UAW to reduce or end NASCAR sponsorship

As Detroit's struggling auto giants enter an epic battle with their unionized workers to reduce costs, they contend they either must win a profound restructuring or face catastrophe.

The head of the United Auto Workers union is trying to avoid becoming the union leader who ends seven decades of nearly unbroken advances in workers' wages and benefits. He is under unprecedented pressure to give back as much as $10 billion a year to help U.S. car companies stop losing to their lower-cost Asian counterparts — or see the U.S. companies build more and more of their cars overseas. Former UAW president Doug Fraser calls this "the most difficult time in the history of our union. Period."

UAW insiders say they will let automakers cut back a wide range of so-called joint programs that provide union jobs but cost automakers hundreds of millions of dollars a year. They include company-sponsored day care and sponsorship of NASCAR races.